Joel Kolstad wrote:
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover" wrote:

My attitude is that rather than try to do this (and in the process lose
reliability), it's better to go supersize on the cells, add more area
and overall capacity to get you thru the cloudy days, and have a higher
capacity overall.


The argument usually goes that getting, say, 10-20% more power from a better
charge controller (one of these so-called 'maximum power point controllers')
can be cheaper (in additional expenditures) than getting 10-20% larger
panels. It's sometimes difficult to show, though, particularly on small
systems -- but MPPT controllers have been getting cheaper for awhile, now,
and I expect that eventually all but the cheapest/smallest will have this
functionality.

Last nite (Tue, 9pm) I watched a prog on PBS that was about getting
people to use more renewable resources, hosted by Cameron Diaz (hot
blonde movie star), who drives a Prius. They talked about getting every
home to have a solar panel, and selling power back to the utility co.
She also said that if everyone in the U.S. drove a hybrid vehicle, we
could completely eliminate oil shipments from the middle east. Well,
I'd go out and buy a Prius, but one of the guys at work has had his new
Prius since xmas and it took him 4 months or so to get it after
submitting a $500 earnest check to several dealerships to get on their
waiting list. They say they're trying to make more of them, but I think
they really don't want the prices to fall, since they're expensive to
make. In any case I'd like more solar power, but the initial outlay is
_not_ cheap.


---Joel Kolstad